If the World Should End
by jjhatter
Summary: A dark and tragic songfic; my first attempt at writing for "The Land Before Time." Please be gentle! Better summary inside; R&R!


Hello, readers! Welcome to my first attempt at fanfiction for the universe of _Land Before Time,_ one of my deepest childhood loves. Now, boring things to set aside...

Rating: T (for disturbing elements, including death)

Disclaimer: I OWN-ETH NOTHING! _Land Before Time_ belongs to Don Bluth, Universal Studios, and anyone else I failed to mention involved in the series/T.V. show. Like the title says, the song used in this story is _If the World Should End,_ from the musical _Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark_. It belongs to Marvel Comics, U2, and anybody else I have not mentioned.

Summary: Time is of the essence...when time is up. And for the denizens of the Great Valley, time is definitely up.

**If the World Should End**

It had all been innocent enough at first. But Reapers hide their grizzled forms under shady cloaks, and death disguises itself with harmlessness.

He could still remember how it began: the Smoking Mountains had exploded full force, the eruption startling and unexpected; there had been several smaller blasts over the years, but none as massive as this one. The Great Valley hadn't stood a chance; everything burned and was buried in black, hot stone. The creatures who called it home had run, but not everyone had been lucky enough to escape.

Ducky had cried for four whole days when it was found that Spike, her adopted brother, had been among the unfortunate.

Those who survived had left. To Littlefoot's relief, all of his friends, save Spike, had survived the destruction of their home. Unsure of where to go now, they all fled to other reaches.

Within three days, they had met up with her.

Ali's herd had experienced a similar disaster, and had been travelling the desolate tracts of the Mysterious Beyond for months. Rhett had been among those killed in the Far Walkers' ranks.

They had all grown up; Chomper had departed, Ruby forever at his side, exactly two months prior to the catastrophe. No one had seen or heard of either of one since. Cera could now be truly called a threehorn, her pastel yellow shades darkened into a deep orange. Petrie was the spitting image of his uncle, Pterano...although his voice was still as high pitched as ever, and his timidity had not mellowed. Ducky was larger, her crest and bill more pronounced, but had not changed in any other way.

Spike – poor guy – had gotten his species' trademark spikes and crests, and had finally learned to speak properly (he had always been able to talk, but seldom did...he still kept that shyness till his death).

Littlefoot had grown into a fine longneck, deep brown with a tan underbelly, even taller than his grandfather, to say nothing of his hero, Doc the Lone Dinosaur, now that he was a young adult.

Ali had, too; her pink scales reminded Littlefoot (his name was quite inappropriate now) of the shining stones in the canyons of the Great Valley...

Which probably were no longer there...

There was little time to dwell on the past; the two herds had merged, in hopes of locating food.

The fact that they never encountered a single predator should have told them they were doomed from the start, but Flatteeth rarely notice such things.

Grandpa Longneck was the first to go; still alive, still a-breathing when the disaster had occurred, his already old age had seemed to have increased exponentially after the catastrophe. He was actually rather lucky; he had simply closed his eyes and didn't open them again.

His mate came next, and died in a similar manner. She had wept herself to sleep...and never woke up.

One by one, the herd grew smaller and smaller. Stomachs ached, coughs were hacked...sometimes including blood...

Starvation began to claim them all.

How long had they travelled on, mindlessly? Littlefoot could no longer count. Days? Weeks? Months? Everyplace looked the same, and what time the dinosaurs knew of soon became meaningless...their minds were reduced to the most basic sentience: find food, eat it, get more.

If such was even possible.

And it wasn't.

Eventually, tragically, all had gone their separate ways. It pained the Gang of Five (Ali included in Spike's place) to split up; their parting reminded them of what they called, in their youth, "the Case of the Mysterious Island," when the Swarming Leaf Gobblers had stripped the Valley, and the adults had all considered taking off, Threehorns with Threehorns, Longnecks with Longnecks, etc.

Now it appeared such a parting was to actually occur.

With tears of remorse, Littlefoot and Ali went one way, Cera, Tria, Tricia, and Topsy had gone another, Ducky and her family a third, and Petrie and his siblings (their mother had died two days prior) yet another.

The herd of longnecks walked for at least another three months. The heat of the deserts and the lack of food and water was wearing down upon Littlefoot and Ali...

It was no surprise when, one morning, they awoke, and found they had been left behind.

Time lost all track of itself at that point.

Now, Littlefoot was kneeling before the pink female, who lay on the ground, groaning softly in pain, a single tear running down her cheek.

"Ali, come on...you can make it..."

"I-I can't...so t-t-tired..."

"We can't give up! There MUST be food somewhere..."

"You know there isn't...it's too late..."

"Don't say that. We've been through worse, haven't we?"

Ali gulped dryly, and shook her head.

"No...nothing like this. Not even as kids."

She looked up at him.

"I know it's too late...I can't feel anything..."

The brown male's eyes were glistening.

"Don't leave me..."

Ali smiled softly.

"I won't. Remember what...what you told me your mother told you...?"

Littlefoot squirmed.

"That's different...I can't lose you. I won't make it!"

"No, you won't."

This sobering fact silenced both of them.

"Please...stay with me...I want you here with me..."

Littlefoot looked her up and down, sighed, and lay down beside her.

They spoke in whispers for the rest of their final discussion.

"Littlefoot?"

"Yes?"

"There's something I want to say before I go..."

"What is it?"

"You've been...looking at me, in odd ways, as we've gone on...it's like, when you see me, you forget you're tired...you forget who has died..."

Littlefoot hesitated, then nodded.

"Littlefoot...do you love me?"

There was a pause.

"I've loved you for a long time...I think I loved you before I even knew what the word love really meant."

Another pause.

"Not that it matters anymore...tomorrow, who knows? Neither of us may be here..."

Then, to his surprise, he heard a weak voice begin to sing, _"Don't think about tomorrow...we've only got today..."_

He stared, realizing Ali was singing.

_Just like when we were kids._

He opened his mouth to speak...

A tail tip, like a finger, shushed him.

_"There's nothing that I want from you...not a word you have to say...you are all I need, and all I can defend...all I need to hold onto, if the world should end..."_

At this moment, a loud hissing sound came from the sky above. Both longnecks looked up, barely having the strength to lift their heads at all.

A hundred Shooting Night Lights came from above. Once upon a time, such a sight would have been glorious...

But a Shooting Night Light had reportedly been what decimated the Valley.

They both knew now what this meant.

The two longnecks looked at each other.

Ali smiled a slow, dry smile.

"Looks like we're going out together after all," said Littlefoot in a sad voice.

"Afraid so."

_"In my imagination,"_ the male joined her, _"I could not have made this up..."_

_ "In a world stranger than fiction, ours was no fictional love...I can see the you under your second skin..."_

Littlefoot grinned, and placed his ear to Ali's chest.

_"I can feel your heartbeat quicken,"_ he sang. _"Quicken, and then slow...there's nothing else I need to know."_

_ "And there's nothing we need to pretend...if the world should end."_

More Shooting Lights filled the air, illuminating the sky with a silvery glare.

This was not unnoticed, although the two kept their eyes firmly upon each other, even as a loud boom filled their ears from the distance...

_"And the sky tonight is luminous...for all the wrong reasons..."_

_ "And every doorway is hiding something..."_

_ "And if this world should all come crashing down, I wouldn't care at all..."_

Ali coughed, and lay her head on the ground, her voice even softer, and sounding older than Littlefoot knew her to be.

_"And if there's no tomorrow,"_ she rasped, _"I'd have today again...there's no time for sorrow, when there's no such thing as time...and, if the darkness will descend, I don't need a savior or a friend..."_

She coughed again...and again...

And breathed no more.

Littlefoot didn't dare hold back his tears.

_"I can say I've really loved," _he finished for her. _"If the world should end."_

He kissed her cheek, and lay beside her, wrapping his neck around her own limp, cold namesake...

He never even felt it when the great cloud of debris, rushing faster than even Ruby could ever have run, slammed into him.

**About 70 million years later...**

A figure in a black coat and hat looked up at the skeletons in the museum. The fossils were erect, but a painting in the background showed them as they might have died: with one curled up protectively around the other.

He read the plaque before the exhibit.

_**These two fossilized Apatosaurs – one male, one female – were found coiled around each other, as depicted in the background, in Utah. Scientists believe they were asleep during the time of the Great Mass Extinction. While it is unsure what caused the extinction, this new discovery has many paleontologists baffled.**_

_** About a mile away from this strange find was another: a mass grouping of dinosaurs, including Triceratopsians, Saurolophuses, and Pterosaurs. Since the area has been dated as a desert, this "dinosaur graveyard" is also intriguing.**_

The man scratches his head.

Only heaven knows: they were all together to the end.


End file.
